Engaging the Next 10%

TLT Roundtables

Frugal Innovations for Student Engagement

Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtables (TLTRs)

Definition

A TLT Roundtable (TLTR) is a
diverse group that meets regularly, considers issues, and (usually) provides
advice to the Chief Academic Officer, other leaders, and many constituencies.

A TLTR is designed to bring
together people who would not otherwise work together on educational
improvements (for example, technology leaders with faculty who are not yet
enthusiastic users of technology for teaching). TLTRs are often asked by Chief
Academic Officers for advice on a regular basis, e.g., on new faculty
development initiatives, internal grants programs, or budgets that affect
resources and support services available to improve teaching and learning with
technology.

Through the TLTR's meetings,
action teams and reports, the Roundtable can help its institution make
better-informed decisions, sustain collaborative change, and develop better
strategies for using technology to improve teaching and learning. When
operating properly, TLT Roundtables reduce the confusion, frustration,
unrealistic expectations, and wasteful duplication of effort that often
accompanies the explosive array of opportunities offered by educational
technology.

CharacteristicsRoundtables often have other names but they share the following
characteristics:

Roundtables meet regularly
(sometimes in subgroups, sometimes as a whole)

Roundtables provide advice
for the Chief Academic Officer and others on professional development, policy,
budget and other matters. Roundtables have often been concerned with barriers
that slow the 'mainstreaming' of technology use (e.g., the support service
crisis) and with opportunities to use technology to improve the educational
program.

Roundtables help move
information, from outside into the institution and across the institution's many
boundaries, helping the institution notice and act on problems and opportunities
more quickly.

Want to learn more about TLT Roundtables?

Not sure if your institution
has the equivalent of a TLT Roundtable? Ask yourself whether it has a
single formal or informal body including representatives from the
faculty, library, academic support services, administration, etc. that performs
the functions described above. If not, your institution may be ready for a TLT
Roundtable!

Teaching
Learning and Technology Roundtables
exist at many institutions (often with other names). Their goals are usually to
bring disparate people and units together in order to catch issues that normal
institutional process can't deal with adequately, providing advice on steps that
are likely to result in improving teaching and learning (with technology.)